The saga of Lady Harriet---long

Hello everyone.  I am new to the site, but let me dive right in and hear some of your thoughts.  

So, I adopted a kitten back in August (he was rescued by an individual) named Lord Wilson (LW) and he is just about a year old.  He is a happy butt face, built-for-comfort cat.  He would have playdates with the cat across the hall until that cat moved.  He cried a lot an clearly needed another cat companion.

Enter Lady Harriet (LH) .  Around memorial day, I walked into PetCO and saw this little gray cat that I just KNEW was going to be "the lady harriet" I'd been thinking about.  I had figured I would wait until after I finished my thesis stuff and then get another little kitten, but when I saw this 1.5 year old kitty I just fell in love.  

LH, as I just said, is 1.5 years old.  She was found on the streets with a litter of kittens and brought into a rescue organization.  Supposedly she was all good, but I took her to my vet just in case.  It turned out she had rods and cocci cooking in her ears! (I'm frustrated that the rescue folks didn't notice that, because apparently it was pretty bad.  Since this was clearly there before I got her and they supposedly cover up to $100 in the first two weeks, I'm going to request the $100...)  

Anyway, LH was put on Baytril Otic, which I faithfully gave her everyday for eight days or so.  Her appetite vanished, she stopped drinking water, barely used the litter box, and finally vomited.  I called the vet and took her back in, guessing she was having an adverse reaction to the Baytril.  The vet said stop giving her the Baytril, and gave her some fluids under the skin, and gave me mirtazapine for her appetite.  She kept getting worse.  I called with my concern but the vet said just wait for it to get better.  The next night she looked so bad, and was breathing hard while she slept....I took her to the ER ($$$$$$$$)

The ER doc took a look at her, felt her belly, and immediately said she thought there was a blockage (WHY DIDN'T MY REGULAR VET NOTICE THIS?!) 

LH was x rayed and pumped full of fluids for 12 hours (along with a variety of other costly treatments) and x rayed again.  Things looked better, so instead of doing an adominal explore operation the ER waited another 8 hours.  They decided she looked good enough to go home and not have the surgery, since it seemed that whatever debris she may have had in there was passing through.  

She came home on Sunday, and at first wouldn't eat or drink.  I took her back to the ER vet immediately and they did another x ray (free) and discovered she would still eat the same special food (mixed with chicken baby food) heated up.  I took her home again and have been feeding her this concoction about four times a day and struggling to trick her into taking her medications.  She will never eat very much, doesn't drink the water (though the ER doc said there was enough liquid in her wet food) but uses the litter box (not much comes out, but she does use it).  

TLDR: LH is home from this ordeal that happened over the weekend, but she has started rejecting the vet food as well.  I went out and got some beef wet food (roast beef is, apparently, her currency) and she ate a little.  It is just kind of a struggle every time and I'm just really worried about her (remember I haven't had her that long so I don't really know how to judge her state).  The regular vet said they can't get her in until Monday for a follow up (though if she doesn't eat at all, they said they could TRY to get me in tomorrow).

She uses the litter box, but not much comes out of her, she won't touch dry food (she did the first few days that I had her) and sleeps a lot.  She will play some, but not like she did when she first got here.   

Should I try to get in tomorrow anyway?  I cannot bust the bank again to go to the ER vet over the weekend.  Or, should I just wait until Monday?  Since they didn't actually do the surgery on LH, I worry that perhaps she is getting clogged up again.    

Sorry to hear that LH (love her name BTW) is sick. I am a little unclear though on what the issue is. Does she have a blockage or not? What did the x-rays show? Is a reaction to Baytril still a possibility?

I guess the question is are you going to the vet for further diagnostics or treatment for the not eating/drinking much for past few days?

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the confusion.
 

The blockage thing is a mystery.  

The ER vet said (I'm quoting the written report) "The radiographs were suspicious of a foreign body obstruction...[after time passed, the later radiographs] showed improvement in the gas pattern and the stomach was small and empty so we instead decided to offer her food [instead of surgery for an abdominal explore].  Lady Harriet has done well all day and has been eating well.  She did develop very liquidy diarrhea while hospitalized, but her last episode was around 4AM"  

So, I'm still not sure if she had one or not!  Her GI looked good when they did another check on her the day after she came home.  They said there was still some debris but it was even smaller.  If I understood the vet, she guessed that maybe food got shuttled into the cat version of appendix or something (I was a bit stressed so sorry if I'm not clear).  

The baytril should be all out of her system now.  I intended to go to the vet and see what they said.  I don't know what she might need.  I might like them to check her GI track again and see that things are still moving along.  I wondered if I just am being too impatient with her recovery.  Also, she is a much smaller cat than LW (LW is 12 lbs, she is about 7 and is just tiny).  

I'm pretty hyped up, though, so maybe I'm just freaking out unnecessarily...

So it sounds like if there was an obstruction, it is being broken down and passed if the x-ray readings are correct. Then I think your more pressing concern is about her eating and drinking. How much has she eaten/drank in the past few days. Cats can't go long without eating as they will start to develop fatty liver disease. If she hasn't been eating or drinking much it might not be a bad idea to get her to the vet tomorrow for subq fluids and have them show you how to syringe feed just in case she needs help. This should hopefully get you past the weekend without an e-vet visit as long as the probable blockage continues to move along well.

Oh, and most female cats are smaller than males. My cat is about the same size as yours.

You should probably get a syringe and just use that to make sure she is getting enough food. Get the largest syringe you can find and a watery pâté food (hills AD is the perfect consistency but you can also just add water to any pate). A poster on here Carolina has a great thread on how to syringe feed and there are also a lot videos on YouTube.

My cat went through something like this and cyproheptodine was the best stimulant to get him to eat and we tried a couple.

I am really sorry this happened and you should contact both the rescue and petco and tell them they gave you a very sick cat and demand they help you with this. They clearly should have known this cat was so sick and it was very unethical not to tell you!

Thanks vball.  

She does eat three or four times a day (wet food) but it takes a bit of coaxing (heating it up as well).  She eats about two good spoonfuls of the wet food each time.  She was also nibbling at the cat grass....furthermore, she will eat certain treats when offered.

 It seems she urinates and defecates (tricky to tell sometimes with LW stinking up both litter boxes) each day.  

I know this will sound bad, but I don't think syringe feeding will go over well.  She is the most squirmy cat I have ever beheld and I have no one here to help me with her for the summer.  Obviously if it comes to that I will figure out a way to make it work.  Would the syringe feeding be a short term thing do you think? 

Also, I was giving her the pills (metronidazole) by hiding them in the wet food (only offering the pill-laden portion first, then letting her get into the rest of the food when she'd taken that).  However, it seemed like she still avoided getting a lot of it down her.  Now that I've found the "roast beef taco" trick (pill pockets don't interest her) I think that will be more successful.  So, in short, maybe she just wasn't get enough of the medication in her system over the last two days? 

Also, just for fun. 

Lady Harriet:


Lord Wilson: 

Hi Franksmom,

I do not think they knew she had this problem.  It probably was in the early stages when I got her.  Plus, these places are so overrun with cats that I understand they may have not seen it coming.  However, I am going to collect that $100.  Before all of this happened I wasn't even going to make them pay for her ears (treating it like a donation to the rescue--these places have so much to deal with) but now I will take whatever I can get.  

Did your cat get better?  How long was the recovery process?  Was he low energy for a week afterwards?  

I wraped my cat up in a towel ( sort of like swadling a baby) and this prevent any squirming and I could do it by myself with him on my lap. I syringe feed him for a few days to supplement him because he was eating under his caloric needs which is very dangerous in cats and even more dangerous with kittens. If she is eating a lot less than what she should I would syringe feed so she will not get worse over the weekend. You also do not want to deal with fatty liver disease on top of everything else. I would also see if you can pick up some cyproheptodine from the vet it was an amazing drug for my cat who finally started eating more normally 24 hours after his first dose.

I am afraid LH vomited tonight.  I got her some beef flavored food since beef flavors were the only thing she would seem to care for in her treats.  She did alright this morning on it (she didn't eat much, but she ate a little).  Tonight she ignored the same food I'd offered earlier (science diet) and would only eat one of the other ones (evo).  Then she threw it right back up.

I pushed my way into a vet appointment at 10:30 tomorrow, with a different doctor.  

I could cry. I've known her such a little time and she was only at full strength for a few days.  But now I'm so attached and I'm so scared she is not going to get through this. 

belle8bete said:

I am afraid LH vomited tonight.  I got her some beef flavored food since beef flavors were the only thing she would seem to care for in her treats.  She did alright this morning on it (she didn't eat much, but she ate a little).  Tonight she ignored the same food I'd offered earlier (science diet) and would only eat one of the other ones (evo).  Then she threw it right back up.

I pushed my way into a vet appointment at 10:30 tomorrow, with a different doctor.  

I could cry. I've known her such a little time and she was only at full strength for a few days.  But now I'm so attached and I'm so scared she is not going to get through this. 

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I am so sorry you both are going through a rough time! Two weeks ago I went through a hair ball blockage with my cat and he is all good now. Did they see a foreign object on the X-ray? If it was just a gas pattern this could mean it is a hair ball. What worked for Frank was cerenia for vomiting and cyproheptodine to get him to eat. Once I was able to get those two drugs from the inept vets he got much better in 24 hours.

Yes, I read that thread (what an ORDEAL!) 

I am pleased to say I think LH is doing better.  She is visiting the vet tomorrow morning (someone here should go to bed...hmmm) and I have them see if she is dehydrated.  The vet that I no longer completely trust is on vacation, so it was easy for me to get a different one....(this one first saw LW when he was just a 2 pound baby).  She seemed much more concerned about LH and already has looked over her files from the e-vet. 

but the GOOD NEWS: I was eating my dinner (I made some chicken) and little LH comes up and gives me that sad Oliver Twist look.  I held out a little piece of my chicken and OM NOM NOM it was gone.  Then she ate the whole other (small) chicken breast I planned to save for tomorrow.  Also, I found that if I dropped a bit of roast beef into the middle of watered down chicken baby food that she would drink to get to the roast beef.  I've also been using the roast beef taco system to get her pills down and it works like a charm.  

She was resting all stretched out earlier tonight, so I think that is a good sign.  

I'm finishing up my grad thesis and trying to get a job and planning a move, so all of this is just stressful and I sort of had a freakout earlier....tonight she hopped up on my chest for some love though, and that was wonderful.

belle8bete said:

Yes, I read that thread (what an ORDEAL!) 

I am pleased to say I think LH is doing better.  She is visiting the vet tomorrow morning (someone here should go to bed...hmmm) and I have them see if she is dehydrated.  The vet that I no longer completely trust is on vacation, so it was easy for me to get a different one....(this one first saw LW when he was just a 2 pound baby).  She seemed much more concerned about LH and already has looked over her files from the e-vet. 

but the GOOD NEWS: I was eating my dinner (I made some chicken) and little LH comes up and gives me that sad Oliver Twist look.  I held out a little piece of my chicken and OM NOM NOM it was gone.  Then she ate the whole other (small) chicken breast I planned to save for tomorrow.  Also, I found that if I dropped a bit of roast beef into the middle of watered down chicken baby food that she would drink to get to the roast beef.  I've also been using the roast beef taco system to get her pills down and it works like a charm.  

She was resting all stretched out earlier tonight, so I think that is a good sign.  

I'm finishing up my grad thesis and trying to get a job and planning a move, so all of this is just stressful and I sort of had a freakout earlier....tonight she hopped up on my chest for some love though, and that was wonderful.

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What great news she ate!!! I think this is a great sign.

I am sure you know this and hopefully this vet is good and will not gouge you but if she is dehydrated I would recommend getting the sub q under the skin rather than an IV due to the cost and stress of the IV. The vet I took frank to of course recommend I do the $300 IV but I opted for the fluid under the skin which worked great and meant he didn't have to be hospitalized.

I am in grad school too and understand the stress! Hopefully your kitty will get all better very soon. I found with Frank once he become interested in food again he made a complete recovery and I hope this is the case with LH!

So, LH is now back at home and she seems to be doing well. The vet visit went smoothly, though this vet noticed she still has some infection in her ears and gave a different medication for it.  

At the moment I want to stabilize LH and her diet since it's been "oh, you want food, please eat this!!!" randomly throughout the day for a while.  

She has been eating the Science Diet wet food beef flavor (for mature cats 7+ though she is 1.5 years) with great success.  She also will eat watery chicken baby food. 

I don't want to change this for a while (a week or so)---changing the foods around doesn't seem to do anything useful.  So...I just need to figure out how much I should be giving her.  Then I need to figure out what I should switch to, since I doubt that science diet for 7+ is the best choice.  Eventually I want to shift her back to part dry part wet (yes, that's my firm, informed choice--don't give me a lecture about the evils of dry food).  

What did the vet say about what is causing the vomiting?

As for foods, you want high animal protein/moderate fat/low carb. It's hard to find that in a dry food, but Wysong Epigen 90 and Ziwipeak air-dried raw come the closest. I avoid feeding any grains, vegetables and fruits as they are not species-appropriate.

For wet, there are many more options, from Friskies pates and Fancy Feast classic to EVO, Hound & Gatos, Tiki, etc.

I feed "taste of the wild" for the dry food.  LW does pretty nicely on it (although now that he is approaching his full size, the free feeding probably has to end).  LH actually ate some of the kibble soaked in water and chicken baby food.

Otherwise, LW enjoys his fancy feast, and LH has continued to eat the Science Diet (which I will try to change next week-ish...I've just heard too many bad things about SD).  In other news, LH still has an ear infection and will be on new medicine for that.  Furthermore, this vet discussed how I should treat LH's gingivitis...the previous vet just basically shrugged her shoulders when I asked about a course of action.  I'm putting the gingivitis issue aside until next week: one thing at a time.  

I also just wanted to list two things I'm so grateful for:

1. ROAST BEEF: since I started using this, it has been SO EASY to get LH to take medicine.  I rejoice every time that pill or paste goes down without a fight.  

2. My mom.  Although I'm supposedly an adult with a graduate degree, my mother was on the phone with me a million times a day to discuss LH, ask about her, help calm me down, etc...oh and to help out with the vet bill.  

God bless mothers and roast beef!